Elevation: 7,251 ft
GPS coordinates: W 102 59 51.21  N 36 53 59.80 

Temperatures: High  degrees - Low degrees 

Ponil to Dean Cow  

8.12 Miles

Total: 17 Miles

       Dean Cow Camp is located at the end of Dean Canyon.  We found out that if you are the last crew to arrive you get the closest camp to the Staff cabin.  I guess that can be good and bad.  The water source was real close to camp which was nice.  The crew was quite fatigued after the long hike and were not real interested in participating in the activities available at Dean Cow.  Dean Cow offered rock climbing as the main attraction and a climbing wall for the after dinner activity.  Since we arrived so late, we missed  the last Rock climbing for the day. The crew opted to rock climb in the morning before leaving for Harlan.

     The crew normally fired up two of the stoves to heat hot water for dinner and cleanup.  On this night one of the stoves leaked gas which ignited and burned through the protective casing of the fuel line.  We now had only the MSR dragonfly stove.  It is powerful enough to heat water very quickly so it did not pose a problem.  More card playing and relaxing before turning in.

     The morning at Dean Cow would be the first 1 hour challenge.  From wake up call to trail in one hour.  Since we were not hiking right away we timed it until all the packs were in line against a tree.  The crew almost made it but one Crew member did not have his boots tied ready for the trail.  Tomorrow is another day.

     At 8:00 AM, Trish greeted us at the climbing wall for our short hike to the Rock Climbing area.  Our allotted shower time was between 7:30 AM and 8:00 AM so no one had a chance to shower at this camp.  A hobo bath was all that was available in that short of time.  The climbing wall was great for the crew.  Some members already have the Climbing merit badge and they climbed the harder face for fun.  Some of the crew had never climbed before and had fun learning from the entertaining staff.  Trish had two assistants which engaged in Monty Python type banter the whole time.  Safety was the main concern but fun was not far behind.  Most of the crew was able to climb twice which was kind of nice because we did not have to share the climb with another crew.  Doing the Activities in the morning was working out well.

     By 9:45 AM the Crew was once again on the trail, and guess what, you guessed it, up the hill out of a valley again.  The trail climbs steeply out of the canyon and then peaks and levels off and then at the 5 mile mark crosses the Cimmaroncito River.  We took some time to soak our feet in the cool river water.  Then it was back to the trail which once again headed uphill most of the rest of the way to Harlan.